A Tale Of Two Shinigami
by Lady of Kalam
Summary: Three years after becoming first female dispatch officers in England, Shinigami best friends Guinevere Rapier and Minerva Bentley are bored at their positions reaping souls in Cheshire. When the chance arises to transfer to London Dispatch, both girls jump on it, determined to work at a more exciting branch than the one they currently do. Is London everything they thought it to be?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: LOLOLOLOL Lady K here with ma pal Scotland's Pond! Black butler whohaha! *runs around in a circle*Anyway peeps we are going to be writing this thang togedur and going to fuck things up with some of my cooking! Lady K's goal in life: NEVER TO MAKE SENSE!**

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"For the love of Jesus, Minny! How long does this fucking take?" Gwen muttered under her breath to the woman sitting next to her, missing the reproachful look her accomplice gave her as she brushed the thick and curly raven hair out of her yellow-green eyes.

Minerva rolled her eyes, which were the exact same shade, like every Shinigami, and muttered back, "Gwen, please be quiet. "

Someone behind them tittered and tapped the back of their bench._ Oh bloody hell. God help that person_, Minerva thought as she felt Guinevere tense up in her seat. She quickly grabbed her friend's arm and attempted to keep her from rising, but it was no use.

"What the the hell is wrong with you old lady?" Guinevere spat, standing up and turning around, twisting her arm out of Minerva's grip.

Minerva saw the years that they had spent lying low and never giving the townspeople of Cheshire a reason to doubt them slipping by.  
The entire church goes silent as they gaze open mouthed at Guinevere's seething figure.

The old lady sitting behind recovered quickly and croaks back, "How dare you! This is Christmas Day in church, not some chattering tavern where you can talk all you'd like!"

Before Guinevere could draw breath to reply, Minerva stood up and displaying a quite surprising strength clapped a hand over the mouth of her not quite five feet tall friend and dragged her out.

Once they were outside, Guinevere was finally released and Minerva drew breath to scold her but the desperate plea that shone through her eyes stopped her.

She had never seen her friend get upset before. Guinevere had always been the emotionally stronger of the two female Shinigami. Minerva knew her friends matra was,_ emotions are a weakness, never let anybody see you cry_, and Guinevere's personal favorite, _you are a strong and independent woman! Act like it_!.

Guinevere took a deep breath but before she could speak, Minerva interrupted her. "I don't want to hear any of your excuses, Gwen," she reprimanded, planting her hands on her hips. "We can't afford for you to blow this! That stupid buffon we call a supervisor already thinks we can't handle being dispatch officers, and you're not making him more confident in us. Do you want to get us stuck in General Affairs?!" Minerva slapped a hand to her forehead when she noticed the mischievous look that came across her friend's face. "What now?"

"Well..." Guinevere drew out the word as much as she could, brought her hands up to her face, and began drumming her fingers together evilly. "Why don't we request a transfer to London, my dear sister?" Minerva sighed thoughtfully. She hated Cheshire, she really did, but London was quite a large city and neither she nor Guinevere had ever been very far out of the English countryside, even in their human lives.

"Do you really, truly want to go to London?" the blonde finally asked, relenting a bit. "I mean, think about it. It might not be much different from here. You and I are still the only female dispatch officers in the entire country and we'll still face the kind of opposition we've faced here."

"But at least London isn't fucking boring," Guinevere whined, face drooping. "I bloody hate having a vagina."

"Language, my dear," Minerva warned in a sing-song voice. She was quite used to her friends vulgar vocabulary, courtesy of her deadbeat father, but that didn't stop her from trying to refine the woman, just a bit. "And if that's what you honestly think, I'll talk to the old bastard about getting us sent to London." There was a very good reason why Minerva wanted to be the one to talk to their supervisor; if it was Guinevere who did, he'd probably send them up to the Lochs to freeze their arses off in anger.

And Minerva hated the cold.

Guinevere pouted and then grinned showing off way too sharp canines, "Well maybe we don't have to ask him..." Minerva rolled her eyes.

"What do you have in mind?" She really hated Guinevere's ideas, she really did. But she hated having to talk to the old bastard even more.

"Weeeell, you know how we barely do anything here, and if we even are called in, all we do is file shit?" Minerva nodded warily, not wanting to know just where Guinevere was going with this. "I'm pretty sure if we left today, nobody would miss us! We can say that this work is just too much strain on our poor feminine bodies and we couldn't handle any more of this gore!" She held up a tiny hand to her forehead, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Minerva bit her lip. She knew that the two male Shinigami that were stationed there and the old bastard would totally eat that up, being very skeptical of the strength of the female race. Guinevere's ideas (for once) actually had some merit.  
Seeing the thoughtful look on Minerva's face, her nose wrinkled up cutely, Guinevere smiled to herself. She was going off on an adventure. The first one she'd ever been on!

"There's still the matter of how we'll get authorization to work at the London Dispatch," Minerva pointed out, pushing her bright purple spectacles up the bridge of her nose.

"That, my dear Minny, is why forgery was invented," Guinevere replied without missing a beat. "I can just quickly make up some transfer paperwork on my typewriter."

"God, I can't believe we're going to do this..." Guinevere's face brightened greatly at her friend's words.

"Does that mean we can go?!" she prompted, her large eyes gleaming with anticipation.

"Yeah, we can go. But if we get caught, this crap was all your idea."

"Isn't it always?" Guinevere's grin would have scared even the toughest of demons. "Come on, Minny, don't worry so much! Isn't that old bastard always saying that London is understaffed? They'll probably be grateful for the extra help."

"Yeah, grateful for us, indeed..." Minerva muttered under her breath.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hey there, readers! This chapter is provided by me, Pond! So, just a quick run-down. Lady K and I are going to alternate writing chapters (although I'm going to be doing the editing and revising). If you haven't figured it out, her OC is Guinevere Rapier and mine is Minerva Bentley. The pairings in this fanfic are as follows: GrellxOC (I let Lady K have him this time around) and AlanxOC, with hints of Grelliam and SebasGrell (The rating may change to M, but that depends on mine and Kalam's moods...). Also, this really doesn't have a set plot so far. I was thinking we might make it a bunch of mini-plots in one Fanfic, and Lady K is cool with that. So, without further adieu, I give you chapter 2 of A Tale of Two Shinigami. We only own the OCs, not Kuroshitsuji.**

Minerva Bentley had never been to London; she and her best friend, Guinevere Rapier, had grown up together in the rural Cornwall, England, and hadn't even left their little town until their tragic, coinciding deaths in a carriage accident. Of course, when Gwen had suggested that the two of them go to work in London, she was nothing short of thrilled. The petite blonde may not have shown it, but truthfully, she was dying to get away from Cheshire.

During the four years Minerva and Guinevere spent at the Academy (Edinburgh branch), the young ladies had faced a great deal of opposition and hostility. Their instructor had nearly had a fit when he found out two girls were forgoing the normal training of female Shinigami for jobs in General Affairs or Administration; in fact, he flat out refused to teach them several times. Still, with several complaints to the higher-ups (and artful threatening on Gwen's part), both Minerva and Guinevere managed to go through the training necessary to become England's first and only female dispatch officers.

One would think that achieving such an enormous feat would give the women plenty of desirable positions to choose from, but not so. Instead of gaining jobs in an exciting place like Dublin or London, or even Belfast, they ended up being assigned to the Cheshire district of Northern England, one infamous for the boringness of the labor. Not only was working in the dullest dispatch of England cumbersome, it was also mind-numbingly exhausting. While some of the bigger cities had quite large staff, the more isolated and smaller districts had few employees to handle everything, such as in the case of Cheshire; for example, there were only two other dispatch officers (both male), giving a total of four, including Minerva and Guinevere.

In addition to having to put up with the tedium of being stuck in Cheshire, they also had to deal with the scathing remarks from their male counterparts. The old bastard (that is, their supervisor), for one, would always go on about how in _his _day, women were only allowed to work as secretaries, which was all they were good at, and how females in general were too fragile and weak to handle the burden of soul collection. It took every ounce of Minerva's self-control to not respond to the older man's frequent taunts, but Guinevere never let her hate for him go unsung; indeed, because of her sharp tongue, she was often in trouble with the bastard.

Even so, Minerva could only hope that things would be better in London. If she had to be a Shinigami (which she hated with every fiber of her being) then she wanted to be able to work somewhere that accepted herself and Gwen as strong, capable females, and respect them for their skill in their profession. After all, they weren't A-average students in the Academy for nothing! (Speaking of grades, on the final exam, Minerva received a B in practical technique, a AA on the written final, and a AA in ethics. Guinevere, on the other hand, gained a AA on practical technique, an A on the written, and a C in ethics. They were partners for the final.) Sometimes it seemed, however, as if a little bit of respect and admiration were rather hard to come by...

* * *

"Minny, I cannot believe we're finally here!" Guinevere exclaimed as she bounded up the steps that led to the London Dispatch office, her curly, black hair swinging wildly around her shoulders. In one hand, she held her death scythe, a kwan dao, while the held her forged transfer paperwork. Minerva followed her friend at a noticeable slower pace, her large eyes reflecting nervousness.

"Calm down, Gwen," she advised as they entered the imposing building. "We're supposed to wait in the main corridor for Mr. Spears to come collect us and show us around, remember?" She tightened her grasp on her own death scythe, a weed whacker, and hugged her portion of the papers to her chest.

"Screw that! We don't need a tour guide!" Guinevere responded, giving a dismissive wave with the paperwork, flapping it in the air. "We'll be perfectly okay on our-" Before the girl could continue, footsteps clicking on the immaculate floor cut her off. Both looked up to see a tall, black-haired man making his way down the empty corridor to meet them.

"You must be our new recruits," he said once he reached them, his voice polite and extremely formal. "I am William T. Spears, supervisor for this district."

"I'm Minerva Bentley," Minerva introduced herself, giving William's hand a firm shake with her slender, delicate-looking hand. "It's a pleasure."

"Hiya~" Guinevere mused, never one for formal introductions, as she pumped the man's hand up and down eagerly. "Guinevere Rapier, at your service, but _you_ can call me Gwen."

'I'd prefer not, Miss Rapier," William replied stiffly, his cold eyes sweeping over the small women before him. They narrowed as he took in Minerva's lavender bow tie and matching hair ribbon, and Guinevere's bright crimson skirt suit and heels. "You both are in violation of the dress code."

"It's called _individuality_, Willie," Gwen snarked, her attitude kicking in. "Something which you seem to be lacking." She would've went on if Minerva hadn't elbowed her in the ribs.

"Ignore her," Minerva sighed, as usual, making excuses for her friend's brash and cheeky personality.

"Yes, well, if you two would follow me, I'll take you on a tour of the building," William adjusted his spectacles before continuing, his gaze falling on Gwen as he spoke, "And Miss Rapier? Kindly refrain from referring to my person as 'Willie'. It is Mr. Spears." Guinevere rolled her eyes but fell silent, for the time being.

London Dispatch was very much like Cheshire, but on a much larger scale. Spectacles, General Affairs, Administration, Personnel; it was nothing the girls hadn't seen before, but they pretended to be taking in William's welcome speech and various explanations. It was best to simply let him do his job. By the time he had taken them to their shared office, it was nearly lunch. Rather than sit down and fill out the rest of the transfer papers Will had left them with, the young women opted to go to the staff lounge and meet their new co-workers.

The moment they entered, the general buzz that had been circulating the room ceased. _At least_ ten pairs of eyes stared at them, making Minerva's heart thump anxiously. While her discomfort was obvious, it was easy to see that Guinevere was unaffected by the attention, for she simply grabbed her friend's hand and tugged her forward.

"Come on, Minny dear," the black-haired female muttered, giving the slightly taller blonde a large smile. "Let's go chat up some hotties~" Before Guinevere could continue her conquest, however, a bold-looking young Shinigami approached them.

"Well, hey there," he greeted them, running a hand through his already-messy blonde and black hair. "You ladies must be new around here. Ronald Knox is the name, and who might you be?"

"Guinevere Rapier," Gwen said, her eyes glancing Ronald over in an appraising sort of way. "This is my friend, Minerva Bentley."

"So which department are you in? General Affairs? Administration?" he inquired, flashing a flirtatious smile at the pair.

"Actually, we're in Dispatch," Minerva corrected, voice hardening slightly. She despised that it was always assumed that she and Guinevere were secretaries...

"Oh, yeah, I heard something a couple years back about two girls wanting to be full-fledged Reapers," Ronald responded thoughtfully before slinging an arm across each of their shoulders. "So, how about tonight I show you lovely ladies the best pubs in London?"

"I don't drink," Minerva said stiffly, her spine tightening and her fists clenching. How she wished she had her death scythe...If only she hadn't left it back in hers and Gwen's office.

"I'm sorry, but I tend not to go out with arrogant, womanizing wankers," Guinevere replied sweetly, her smile never leaving her face. Ronald blinked in surprise because it was rather rare for a woman to turn him down, but returned her grin after a moment. His face screamed, "Challenge accepted!"

"Well, at least let me introduce you to everyone," he said, to which Minerva nodded rather gratefully.

"Please do, but just know that Guinevere and I don't take too kindly to the kind of romantic advances you've made towards us," she admonished, yellow-green eyes like chips of ice. She was already regretting responding; the ash-blonde had probably only encouraged him by 'playing hard to get'.

As Ronald introduced them to some of the other Shinigami in the lounge, all Minerva could do was gaze over to Guinevere with a bored look. Most of them were just like that awful Mr. Spears, with generic names and formal personalities. It seemed to her that Ronald Knox was the only person in all of London that dared to be different. Only one of the males that she met made an impression on her.

His name was Alan Humphries and for some reason, he had quite an affect on Minerva. He was of slight build, taller than her, but not by much, and had very light brown hair. His face was thin and rather cute, framed by wiry spectacles, and although he looked like he was a clone of all the rest, he had made a slight alteration to his uniform. Rather than a normal black tie, he wore a bolo tie. Speaking with him made her blush so that she ended up having to hurry away with Guinevere in tow so she could confess how taken she was with him.

"Minny," Guinevere whined as Minerva bolted out into the empty corridor, tugging her along. "I was still looking for a hottie to molest! Why'd you make us leave!"

"I'm sorry but I was making an utter fool out of myself in front of that Alan Humphries," Minerva explained, her pink face returning to its normal paleness. "I-I thought..."

"Oh, he was a cutie, but he's not really my type," Guinevere replied, giving her best friend a knowing wink. "Don't you worry, we've only just transferred here. You'll have plenty of time to shag him~"

"Gwen!" Minerva exclaimed, blushing once more at Guinevere's blunt attitude. "Stop that talk!"

"Fine, fine, you'll have plenty of time to enter a loving relationship with him. God, how boring does that sound? It's much more fun to talk about buggering someone, especially when you're still a virgin."

"So are you! God, stop, please!" Minerva started hurrying down the corridor, her face almost burgundy. Guinevere jogged to catch up with her.

"No, because now I know it bugs you~" Guinevere said in a sing-song voice. Just as the raven-haired woman was about to continue their teasing game, however, the voice of William T. Spears behind them stopped the two in their tracks.

"Miss Rapier, if you aren't too busy fooling around with Miss Bentley, I have an assignment for you," he called, making them both turn around. That was when they both saw red. Bright red...and it wasn't Gwen's tight-fitting suit.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi Lady K here! Dragging along behind her spitting and screaming chapter 3 of the tale of two shinigami! Sorry I couldn't have written it earlier but here we go so stop sobbing in the corner!**

**Hey, it's Pond here, to add a warning. Lady K...well, let's just say she's been sexually frustrated lately. If you'd prefer...it means she's freaking horny. That does not bode well for you poor readers. I predict that there will be smut in this fanfic. Maybe not yet, but don't be surprised. I'll change the rating to M if there is, so don't worry!**

**it's lady k again. just a heads up! the ending is a bit stupid**

**READ AND REVIEW**

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A figure stepped out from behind a pillar where it had obviously been lying in wait for Will.

The person was tall with long blood red hair that swayed magnificently to his(?) hips, which were narrow and slightly curved and from them grew a pair of long legs that were swathed in pinstriped black silk pants. His(?) yellow-green eyes surveyed the two women haughtily through the red frames that rested on his(?) long nose. Then he(?) grinned, showing a set of pointed teeth that sent shivers down Minerva's spine (and not the good kind!) The image was completed with a long red woolen trench coat that fell to his(?) knees, complimenting his(?) slim build and a pair of red and black high-heeled boots that she imagine herself tripping over endlessly, if she were to don them.

"And who are these young ladies?" he(?) asked in a flirtatious tone, leaning his(?) lanky frame against Will's erect body, making sure to casually rub the black-haired man's chest with a gloved hand, looking up at the Shinigami's stoic face adoringly. His(?) other hand twirled a chainsaw behind Will's back.

William deftly moved out from under his fellow Grim Reaper's weight with a disgusted look on his face. The redhead stumbled forward, but quickly regained his(?) balance with his chainsaw, scratching the marble flooring with the sharp edges of the belt.

"Miss Bentley, Miss Rapier, this is _Reaper,_" he sneered slightly, "Grell Sutcliff of Dispatch." Will monotoned gesturing towards his colleague, who waggled his(?) fingers with a sly glint in his eyes behind his(?) glasses.

Minerva, who had watched the entire ordeal with an amused expression on her face, stepped forward with a slightly nervous smile and offered her hand to the man(?).

The flame haired Shinigami's smile widened and he(?) stepped forward with a cock of the hips, daintily placing one foot in front of the other, and grasped her hand surprisingly firmly, giving it a shake.

"I'm Minerva Bentley...er, sir..." Minerva relaxed a bit upon introducing herself and turned around to look at Guinevere, only to raise her eyebrows upon seeing her usually brash friend standing a few paces back and glaring at Grell Sutcliff with a cute pout on her face.

Guinevere was filled up to the brim with jealousy even though she tried her best to hide her emotions; subtlety, however, was not one of her finer abilities.

The roaring inferno taking up the corridor that was this man(?)'s aura made her feel like an ember in the fireplace that nobody bothered to stoke to bring back to life. _This was not fair! Nobody was allowed to take the spotlight from Guinevere Rapier!_

Minerva internally groaned as she read her friend like an open book, sensing the envy burning in Gwen's narrowed eyes, spelling trouble for all of them as long as they stood there, in that corridor.

She quickly stepped in front of Guinevere's boiling gaze, backed up, grabbed Guinevere's slim wrists in her hands, and pushed back against her stubborn friend, glad that she was the taller of the two (if only by a mere two inches).

"Ah...it was nice meeting you um... Mr. Sutcliff! We must get going! I mean we need to visit the loo really quick...Gwen's gotta touch up her makeup, is all..." Minerva dug in her heels and continued backing up against Guinevere's small frame pushing her back down the corridor where she knew was a lavatory. why there was a bathroom in this building, Minerva had no idea as shinigamis had no use for them whatsoever "We'll be right back to hear about that assignment, Mr. Spears!"

Minerva had no idea as she opened the door and dragged Guinevere in, the raven-haired Shinigami brought up her pointer finger and middle finger in a v symbol and pointed to her gleaming eyes. Then she brought them out towards Grell Sutcliff's form, a Cheshire cat grin on her face, showing off her extremely pointed canines, before she was tugged into the water closet.

Minerva locked the latrine after Guinevere was fully in and turned to face her friend. "What the bloody hell was that all about?!" the tiny blonde snapped, throwing in a rare curse for good measure. "You looked like you wanted to run that...man...through with your Death Scythe!"

Guinevere ignored her friend and pulled a pair of scissors out of one sleeve and a spool of thread from the other. She took a needle which was pushed into the corner of her jacket's breast pocket.

Minerva watched horrified as Guinevere cut the thin material of her form-fitting red dress at her knees showing off the rearing red cobra tattooed on the back of the top her left calf. With the lightening speed of shinigami, Guinevere ran her needle and thread through the bottom of her dress, stitching a hem to keep the material from unraveling.

The stubborn shinigami stood up from her seat on the toilet and admired her outrageous outfit in the body length mirror that hung on the bathroom wall.

Her gleaming eyes liked what she saw. A fire to set the rain aflame...


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**** Salve my dears! (If you know what language that is, you get a free cookie. It happens to be the language I'm forced to study at school =_=) That aside, it's Pond here with the latest chapter of this fanfic~ Lady K is being lazy and making ****_me _****do all the plot work but I don't mind. I like writing for you guys. Since Kalam says I talk to much, I'm gonna shut up now. Enjoy!**

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"What _are _you doing?!" Minerva gasped as she processed the mutilation that had just been performed in front of her. "Hide that hideous thing immediately! If Mr. Spears thought you were out of code earlier, just what will he say after you cut half your skirt off?" Her large, bright eyes glanced disapprovingly at the tattoo that marred the back of Guinevere's calf. The blonde had told her friend not to get the thing, but she'd gone and done it anyway, while they were in the Academy.

"Minny, that damn she-man was taking the spotlight away from me!" Gwen pouted, discarding the length of red fabric she had sheared off the end of her skirt. "And stop harping about my tattoo, you. You're just jealous that you haven't got one. I told you that you could come along. It's not too late you know. I'm sure there are plenty of places in London to get it done~"

"You know very well that there's no way in hell that I'm going to let someone inject ink into my body," Minerva retorted, giving her shorter friend a little shove.

"Well, then don't complain about what I do to mine," Guinevere concluded, turning to smirk at her reflection in the looking glass that hung on the wall. "_Now_, I'm ready to take on that assignment." With that, the young woman fluffed her wild mane of black hair and exited back into the corridor with a grumbling Minerva on her tail.

The two (?) men had remained in the corridor, waiting for the ladies to return, but at this point, the fiery redhead from before was wrapped around William's arm and batting his eyelashes flirtatiously at the taller Shinigami.

"Miss Rapier, you've come back," Mr. Spears said when he saw both girls coming down the hallway towards them. He looked rather relieved that he was no longer alone with the red-haired man-lady. "As I told you before, you've been given an assignment. Mr. Sutcliff (so it _was _a man...) is going to be accompanying you on the task."

"Hang about," Minerva interjected, looking slightly left out. "Why can't I go with Gwen?"

"Because you are rather new to this Dispatch," William answered, adjusting his spectacles. "Have you not been in London for only two days?"

"W-well, that's true, but I'm sure-"

"Miss Bentley, you will have your chance to get out, but for now, Administration thinks it best that I pair you both with Shinigami who have been here longer and know the city to which we are assigned." Mr. Spears paused in his mini-lecture and handed a folder to Guinevere. "Here are the details of your collections, Miss Rapier. Good luck and do complete them within the deadline." With an air of finality, William gave a small bow and walked away briskly, leaving the two newest Shinigami at London Dispatch with the most infamous Reaper there.

"So, Mr. Sutcliff," Guinevere began, her bright red lips twisted into an appraising smile. "It looks like you're my reaping partner for the night."

"Indeed, it would appear so, darling~" Mr. Sutcliff spoke in a rather high-pitched, animated voice but he definitely seemed enthusiastic to Minerva, which would be rather good, the blonde thought. He would need all the energy in the world if he was to keep up with the likes of Gwen. "And do call me Grell."

"Alright then, but only if you call me Gwen," Guinevere laughed, taking a step towards the man, who, although he was not particularly tall, towered over her. "What do you say we get this show on the road. I do despise overtime, after all."

"Of course, Gwen dear, of course," Grell replied, not hesitating to use her given name, unlike Mr. Spears and his obvious loathing of informality.

"Well, I'll leave you two to it, then..." Minerva threw in, feeling a bit dejected at the way her best friend hit it off with the man. "I'm just going to go do that transfer paperwork..."

"Okay, Minny! Do mine too, will you?" Gwen called after the petite girl, who had begun to make her way back to their office.

"Sure, Gwen. It's not like I've anything better to do..."

* * *

"_At 3:57 PM, Louise Spalding, age 27, and James Redford, age 31, will die due to smoke inhalation from a fire in their home._" Guinevere made a face as she read the entry from the To-Die List out loud. She and Grell were both on top of a church that was across the way from the home in which their targets lived, that home that was due to set fire any minute and the black-haired woman was pissed. "Tch, how boring! Not a hint of bloodshed or violence or anything," she noted, unable to keep the displeasure from her voice. It was just the sort of souls she'd had to collect in Cheshire, dull, anticlimactic ones without any drama, murder, passion, revenge, or anything of the sort. Those were the kind she craved, but had yet to been graced with. And to think, she thought she'd be able to enjoy her job more than she did when she and Minny came to London...

"I know what you mean, Gwen darling," the woman looked over at Grell, a bit surprised. "How I crave a death full of passion and blood!" Guinevere gave a small laugh of happiness.

"So do I," she admitted, pleased that the flame-haired Shinigami _got _her in a way that Minerva (who hated being a Shinigami) did not. "I never got any in Cheshire, though, and apparently, I'm not going to get any here."

Before the two could continue their conversation, however, Gwen caught a glimpse of smoke pouring from an upstairs window of the townhouse where Louise Spalding and James Redford, lovers, were living. A quick glance at her pocket watch showed the hour: 3:56 PM. It was time.

"Let's go get their souls, and then, perhaps we could go out for a drink later?" Guinevere suggested, taking the toothy smile she got in response as a yes to both. "Excellent."

With inhuman agility, the two Reapers leaped over to the home, which was not yet engulfed in flames, but would be soon. As Guinevere slipped into one of the windows with Grell right behind her, she caught the sound of gut-wrenching coughing before it abruptly stopped.

It only took a brief search to locate both of the bodies, sprawled on the floor of the master bedroom. Guinevere stood over Louise Spalding and stabbed the woman through the chest with her death scythe, expecting the Cinematic Record to begin. It didn't.

"What the hell?!" she snapped, giving the woman's deceased body a disgusted kick. "Where's the bloody Record?"

"This one doesn't have it either," Grell noted as he extracted his own death scythe from the body of James Redford. "But I think I know what's happened. It _reeks _of demon in here. Can't you tell?"

Having never been in a position where she would have to track a demon, it took Gwen a moment to discern the scent, but her new acquaintance was quite right; the foul odor was indeed present in the room; it would seem the souls had been snatched by one of those uncivilized beasts...

"But how could one have? We'd have at least seen it leave, wouldn't we?" Gwen noted, feeling slightly uneasy, although it was quickly replaced with excitement. _Finally _something interesting to do!

"It must be still he-" Her red-haired partner didn't get to finish his sentence.

* * *

_Meanwhile in Dispatch_

Minerva sat at the typewriter perched on her brand new desk and pounded away at the keys furiously. "Oh, sure, Minny," she muttered to herself, pausing to feed new paper into the contraption. "Stay behind and do the paperwork because it's not like you spent all your time doing it in Cheshire..." Sighing to herself, the blonde leaned back in her chair and adjusted her thin, round spectacles that almost appeared to big for her face. She jumped, however, at the knock on her door. "Yes? Come in."

A slender, brown-haired man stood in the entryway, but stepped fully into the room upon her permission. The fair-haired girl's heart fluttered as she recognized Alan Humphries, whom she had met earlier. "Miss Bentley," he greeted her politely, giving a small bow despite her lower status. "I've only come to tell you that Mr. Spears has assigned me as your reaping partner for the time being."

"Ah, Mr. Humphries," Minerva stood and nodded her head in acknowledgement, matching his formality. Unlike William, Alan did not come across as cold and aloof; he more so appeared to simply be very polite and proper, like any English gentleman. "Thank you for the news. I suppose you'll be showing me the ropes, so to speak?"

"Yes, I am," Alan replied, still hovering close to the door, which Minerva noticed.

"You can sit down if you'd like," the female offered, giving him a small, friendly smile, which he returned after a moment.

"I appreciate it, but I'm afraid I have to take my leave for the time being," he apologized, looking sincerely regretful. "I have some paperwork to attend to, but I will be back towards the end of your shift to take you out reaping and to show you around London."

"Very well," Minerva responded, twisting her hands in front of her. "I-I'll see you later, then?"

"Later," Alan promised, turning towards the door. "Miss Bentley, if I might say, I'm quite pleased that Mr. Spears is allowing me to be your reaping partner. I'm very honored to be assisting a Shinigami of your standing." Minerva gave a disbelieving chuckle at this.

"What standing? Back in Cheshire, all Guinevere and I did was file paperwork and collect a small amount of dull souls, if we were lucky," she said, face pulling into a vexed expression.

"Then, that was a waste of such talent as a Reaper," Alan interjected, surprising Minerva greatly. He must've read the emotions that showed across her face wrongly, however, because in the next moment, he added, "Do forgive, Miss, I'm afraid I've stepped out of line. I don't know what came over me, I simply-" The small man stopped when Minerva walked around her desk and touched his arm gently.

"No need to be so sorry, Mr. Humphries," she said, smiling sweetly at him. "No one has ever said such kind words about me...and I thank you for that."

"You're-you're quite welcome," he stammered, but before Minerva could properly reply, he'd darted our of her office, leaving her alone once more.

* * *

_Back at the Redford Home_

Before Guinevere could react, a dark shadow slammed into her from behind, knocking her face first to the floor. Like lightning, she kicked the shape away from her and (for she was quite strong, much more so than Minny) sent it flying into the opposite wall. Livid at being caught so off guard, she tightened her grip on her death scythe and dashed towards the creature. When she got closer, she could see what the demon looked like; it was female, with long, brown hair in a braid, flaming red eyes, and a full, black dress, and it was laughing. Gwen advanced and swiped at the disgusting thing, which dodged her blow but in doing so, put herself right in Grell's path. The demon spun around as he brought his own death scythe down towards her, but she grabbed it with both hands and pushed back.

This didn't last long, however, for even though he was fighting a demon, Grell was indeed stronger than her and had begun to overpower her. Obviously seeing that she wasn't going to win any battles against him, the demon ducked away, causing him to sink his roaring scythe into the floor, and lunged for Gwen. The petite, black-haired woman slashed her death scythe at the creature, but she managed to block blow after blow, causing Guinevere's frustration to grow, especially when the demon continued to giggle like it was a game.

"I've never fought _two _Shinigami at once before," she said in a high-pitched, childlike voice. "That's ever so strange, since you usually work on your own. It's exciting, though, is it not?"

"Yeah, well, that's _two _death scythes you need to pay attention to, which you _aren't_," Gwen grunted, smirking as Grell managed to come up behind the demon and run her through with his death scythe, having finally dislodged it. The demon froze, blood dribbling out of her mouth, and looked down at the blade sticking out of her chest. She fell to the ground as the redhead pulled it out of her, causing crimson blood to splatter around the room, on himself, and even on Guinevere, who smiled sadistically as a few of the warm drops hit her cheeks.

"Well..." Gwen said after a moment of simply staring down at the dead demon. "That's taken care of then. Blimey, my first fight with a demon, eh? Not as bad as I would've expected."

"She was a weak one, probably brand new," Grell concluded, wiping the blood from the blade of his death scythe, his lips curled into a huge grin. "At least you got that excitement you've been wanting."

"And you," Guinevere reminded him, remembering how he had the same desires as she. "Now, I have only one thing to say..."

"What's that?"

"I could _really_ use that drink now."


End file.
